Would you shag Starbuck?

It has spiritual and moral dimensions that even partisan fans believe to be sometimes overplayed. And sci-fi geeks, who love the conventions of the alternative world they’ve hollowed out for themselves, hate the 21st-century Battlestar’s vérité style compared to the playful Seventies original.

Slow-burning TV smash Battlestar Galactica (9pm Tuesdays, Sky One), called “one of the most original and provocative programmes on television” by The New York Times and “TV’s best response to the war on terror” by The Guardian, yields many controversies.

It has spiritual and moral dimensions that even partisan fans believe to be sometimes overplayed. And sci-fi geeks, who love the conventions of the alternative world they’ve hollowed out for themselves, hate the 21st-century Battlestar’s vérité style compared to the playful Seventies original.

(Still, when he presented BG scriptwriter Ron Moore with his Television Writer Of The Year Award at the LA Screenwriting Expo last year, sci-fi author Harlan Ellison said, “This is for the astonishing job of making one of the worst TV shows ever made into one of the best TV shows ever made.”)

Then there’s the politically correct gender-swaps of some of the characters. Starbuck, for example, Dirk Benedict’s womanising character in the Seventies version, is now a binge-drinking post-feminist. As the Arena rep dispatched to the preview screenings back in 2005 could only blubber upon his return to the office, “They turned The Face into a bird.”

But it isn’t the camerawork, irreverence or metaphors that should be the biggest talking point around the show. The point is, would you shag Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff, below) or not?

The long hair she sports in the new series (episode two of which went out this week) is a definite boost for the ‘yes’ camp. I would. But I’ve always liked arsey birds since I had to chase my dad out of the lounge whenever Catwoman came on, angry little stiffy proclaiming confusion and embarrassment through my red flannel shorts.